Still Waters
by thequeenwillruletheboard
Summary: When Reina was a little girl, she used to ask Kaede about her parents. Kaede would answer in the tone she reserved for children: "Your mother was a strong warrior whose whole family was slain by a horrible demon. Then she worked together with your dad and the others to bring him down and save lots of innocent people. She's strong and brave, and she has been for a very long time."
**AN:** I've always been in love with the idea of the personality of MirSan's kids, especially the twins. But I thought it would be an interesting take to look at their parents through their eyes, as I've always been privy to some of the stories of my parents, but I had no idea who they really were before I knew them.

* * *

When Reina was a little girl, she used to ask Kaede about her parents. Kaede would answer in the tone she reserved for children: "Your mother was a strong warrior whose whole family was slain by a horrible demon. Then she worked together with your dad and the others to bring him down and save lots of innocent people. She's strong and brave, and she has been for a very long time." Kaede never gave her a different or more elaborate answer, no matter how many times she asked.

Reina had always seen her mother as an open book – ask her anything, and she'd tell you the truth. She was always ever-present, merely an arm's length away from whichever of her children needed her attention. Every night, she would lay them all down and recount stories: how the priestess and the demon had a love so strong they conquered time, or how their ancestors lived in the Slayers' village, and Reina had become so acquainted with them she could tell the stories as if they were her own.

However, her father was an enigma to her, and she was determined to figure him out.

Once, while she and her sister played down by the stream, she asked, "Jun, don't you want to know more about Dad? He doesn't talk much… Or, not about himself, anyway."

"Why are you so nosy, Reina? Maybe he doesn't want to," she said, turning her focus back to the water.

A few weeks later, Reina found herself sitting with Kaede again, helping her with daily chores. "Would you tell me about my parents some more?" she asked again.

Jun groaned from the other side of the shrine. "Not again…"

Kaede nodded. "Sure, child. Your mother was a strong warrior–"

"I know that part," Reina said impatiently. "What about my father?"

Sighing, Kaede shook her head, waiting a moment before answering: "Still waters run deep, my dear. And that's all I'm going to say. Get back to your chores."

Reina spent years pondering Kaede's words. Often while in the room with her father, a light-hearted goof with everlasting love in his soul, she wondered what about this man could warrant such a response from her elder.

One day, after her and her mother had argued themselves hoarse, she discovered what Kaede had been talking about.

She dropped to the base of her favorite tree, overlooking the valley past the village, lungs straining against her ribs. The bitterness she harbored toward her mother shook her, and tears leaked from the creases of her eyes even as she willed herself not to cry. She wondered when she should turn back and head home, but she couldn't bring herself to move.

She heard the telltale jingling of her father's staff behind her, used more as a cane than as a holy artifact nowadays. Sniffling, she looked back at him. "Hey, Dad."

"Hello, Reina," he smiled kindly and sat beside her, gazing at the scenery. "This spot is beautiful at night. I see why you like it."

She nodded. "You used to take us here to meditate when we were little."

"You remember that? It was a long time ago. Then again, you were the only one that listened to me at the time," he chuckled.

"That's true," she laughed, remembering her sister's blatant disinterest toward the subject, and her brother's inability to focus on anything. "Don't hold it against them, though. They can't help being horrible listeners."

He snorted, hiding a laugh behind his hand. "I don't. And you really shouldn't speak of them that way."

Sighing, she rolled her eyes. "Fine…"

After a moment held in silence, he murmured, "That was quite an argument you and your mother had tonight…"

"I'm not apologizing," she spat. "I meant what I said."

"I have no doubt that's true, Reina. You're more like her than you think…" At her scoff of indignation, he smiled and laid an arm across her shoulders. "Stubborn, with a strong sense of morality. Of course, I see much of myself in you, but you didn't emerge from your childhood unscathed by her influence."

She spoke slowly and deliberately. "Explain that to me."

He wrinkled his brow, frowning at her slightly. "What?"  
"Tell me what you mean. Tell me what happened. All the things you and her have been keeping from us. I want to know."

He sighed, "That's a long story… But I suppose I can tell you the important parts."

She settled into his side as he embarked on the tale of a cruel demon and a monk who stuck his nose where it had no business. The landscape ahead of them provided a backdrop for her imagination. In contrast to the stories she was accustomed to hearing, her father spoke with an ominous reminder: pain is inevitable, and resolution is uncertain. As he finished, he offered his hand to her for examination, the one that had a lifetime barely older than her.

"Y'know…" she whispered, clasping it tightly between her own hands.

"Hm?"

"All Mom's stories have happy endings."

"She likes happy endings. They bring her comfort." He smiled again, losing himself in memory. "Her life has been long and difficult, and it's easier for her to believe there is something good at the end of all of that."

"And you?" Part of her believed that he would start acting silly again, to hide the residual pain he'd been shouldering all his life. The moment they sat in silence reminded her of the pause Kaede had taken before uttering that haunting phrase years ago.

"Your mother and the three of you were the only happy ending I ever craved. It's not always pleasant, as you saw tonight. Tragedy exists in every facet of life, and finding the will to persevere through it is what life is about. My story may not have a happy beginning, or a happy ending, but I'll be grateful for the middle part I enjoyed with the love of my life and children I can be proud of."

She squirmed uncomfortably, the burning truth about her father finally in her hands. Unsure what to say, she bit her lip. "...Even Jun?" she said, at a loss for anything else, cracking a smile.

He shot her an unamused look and nodded. "Even Jun."

Reina shook her head and laughed. "Alright, I think it's time to start heading back."

"You're probably right. It's been awhile," he agreed, using his staff to pull himself to his feet. "Reina?"

"Yes?" She looked up, dusting off her clothes.

"She just wants you to be safe and happy. She's scared you're going to go off and get hurt. I think she sees a lot of me in you as well."

Crossing her arms and sighing, she fell into step with him down the path. "I wish she had said that in the first place…"

"It's difficult for us to reveal our most extensive scars, even when it would resolve issues like these."

Reina halted as the words shifted into place in her mind, falling from her tongue before she could stop them. "Still waters run deep."

"Indeed they do, my dear. Indeed they do."


End file.
